Caulking guns have traditionally included a long barrel-shaped body or open frame for holding a sealant cartridge. The barrel-shaped body or frame is connected to a gun body containing a longitudinally extending piston rod with a push-plate mounted on its end and a trigger for inducing extension of the piston rod in the direction of the barrel body for dispensing sealant material from a sealant cartridge.
Sealant cartridges on the other hand have conventionally been formed with a long cylindrical body for containing sealant material, with a piston inserted in an opening at a bottom end of the cylindrical body for driving sealant material through the body, and an outlet at the top end of the body for dispensing material once opened.
By squeezing a trigger of a caulking gun loaded with a sealant cartridge, the user activates the piston rod, which then extends into the barrel-shaped body of the caulking gun. The push-plate mounted on the end of the piston rod then serves to drive the piston at the bottom end of the cartridge and push sealant material out of the cartridge body through the outlet.
Throughout this specification, references to orientation of a sealant cartridge and/or caulking gun are for convenience only, and assume that the cartridge is standing vertically on a horizontal surface with the outlet at the top. Thus, the terms ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ are not absolute terms but are relative, assuming the cartridge body is standing vertically as indicated. Similarly, references to ‘up’ and ‘down’ and similar terms are to be interpreted in the same way and are not intended to indicate any particular required orientation of the cartridge body or caulking gun.
Also throughout this specification, the phrase ‘sealant material’ is used to refer not only to typical flexible sealers of the type used to seal gaps left between abutting components in building construction, but also to encompass similar substances such as construction adhesives, wood preservative gels, and any other viscous material which is capable of being stored within a cartridge and then dispensed by a piston being forced along the length of the cartridge body. Thus, the phrase ‘sealant material’ is used more generally to refer to a range of materials having this property.
In one respect, the overall length of the barrel-shaped body of a conventional caulking gun, and the standard sized sealant cartridge (215 mm in length, or 320 mm in length including a typical dispensing nozzle), together with the combined weight, make the conventional caulking gun a rather cumbersome tool. This makes it difficult for the user to access and maneuver the tool in small or tight areas for dispensing sealant material. Such areas may include: behind walls or inside roofs, inside cabinets and underneath sinks.
In a similar vein, storage may prove to be problematic for the user who may find they need to find an equally lengthy storage area for putting away the tool.
Furthermore, when using a traditionally caulking gun and standard cartridge to perform smaller tasks, the user often does not require all of the sealant material contained in the standard sized sealant cartridge. This can lead to surplus, disposal of a partially used sealant cartridge and wastage, which also is not good for the environment.
The conventional caulking gun also relies on the piston rod within the gun body to be firmly connected to the piston in the cartridge, failing which it is possible for the cartridge to fall out of the gun. This can become dangerous for use at or above head height around other people and in certain settings such as construction sites.
The present invention aims to address one or more of these problems and drawbacks associated with conventional sealant cartridges and caulking guns.